September 02, 2005

Fine lines

I'm very torn on the issue of looting. If my kids were dying of thirst, I'd raid a supermarket for water any time. I might even take some candy bars, hygiene products, bleach, and batteries.
But TVs, computers, Nike shoes and designer clothes are a different matter altogether.

I don't see why you're torn about it. Clearly, nobody is going to pay attention to legal niceties when they're about to dehydrate or starve. I doubt many would bother arguing the point. Your instincts are correct.

I do expect the Guard to start shooting people who continue looting _after_ they arrive, though. (They're in NO proper already, I believe.) The re-establishment of force = the establishment of aid distribution points, at which point looting ceases to be a matter of survival in a lawless area and becomes a matter of illegal wealth-transfer.

PS. Offers of helicopters? C'mon. Transit time from Rotterdam to NYC (Port Elizabeth, NJ, actually) is on the order of 10 days if you have the CONEX or vehicle all loaded up and ready to go, which of course is not the case. In the meantime, Guard units and FEMA teams are already entering NO. You want to help? Find a family or a charity and send cash. Nice, fungible, easy-to-wire cash. No mess, no additional road traffic until it is used to buy something, and whatever is purchased will be more closely in tune with actual needs.